Has anyone heard anything about the movie "The Duchess" about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire? You know, the one with flat chested bony Kiera Knightley, playing someone with meat on their bones? Ralph Fiennes plays the duke and Dominic Cooper plays Charles Grey, her lover. I don't know why I allow Kiera Knightley to irritate me, because I like her as an actress, its just I don't like seeing her ribcage.

. I don't know why I allow Kiera Knightley to irritate me, because I like her as an actress, its just I don't like seeing her ribcage.

I had a problem watching P&P for a bit only focusing on her bony chest. She does have such a lovely face...really beautiful, but no shape at all. I'm a small woman myself, but not bony like that. Well, I guess you have to give her credit for not having breast implants...in Hollywood, but I wonder how realistic that body frame is to the period pieces she does. In pictures, not many women of that time were so skinny...or am I wrong in this? Like I said, her face is lovely, and I try to focus on that when watching her movies.

Is it rude of people (myself included) to continue to make fun of Keira Knightly for her scrawny boniness? I mean, we wouldn't want to be caught speaking of overweight people that way, would we?

You have a point. I think if we were offering comments on an overweight person you would have a lot of people angry only because so many people seem to have an issue with weight. It is a touchy subject. Mostly, I don't see the skinny factor that so many accuse Hollywood actresses of, but Knightley is very flat chested and skinny, although quiite beautiful otherwise...IMO. I'm just thinking that it's not that attactive...body wise. I'm small myself so I fall into the non overweight group. Personally, I am careful about talking with anyone about weight...be it on a message board or in real life. It falls into the category of religion and/or politics. It can get...ugly...really fast.

I watched The Duchess over the weekend and thought it was really sad. I just felt rather sorry for Georgiana. I mean, yes...she's rich and popular and titled and beautiful. Yay for all that. She's also a woman living at a time when women don't have many freedoms. Her husband is a massive asshole. She marries him when she's 16 years old -- a marriage negotiated between the Duke and Georgiana's mother -- and he's several years older. His only real requirement of her is to produce a male heir...which she doesn't do. Instead she has daughters and miscarriages and stillborn births. While she's pregnant with her first child, the Duke moves one of his illegitimate daughters into the household -- a child he'd gotten on a maid. The mother had died and the child was without a home, so the Duke takes her in. In the movie, to her credit, Georgiana doesn't differentiate between this child, Charlotte, and any of her own children. She loves them all the same. But can you imagine the indignity? At least in the beginning. (And the Duke's attitude is so dismissive...the child is "just a girl," after all. Hardly important.) I just about choked when he had an affair with Georgiana's best friend and then insisted on keeping the woman in the household. Georgiana wanted her out, but the Duke basically said no, she stays. The Duke moves Bess's sons into the household, and they serve as yet another reminder of Georgiana's own failure, for the Duke is all that is fatherly and attentive with those boys, which we don't see with his own daughters. During one scene, Georgiana and Bess and the Duke are sitting at dinner and Georgiana refers to the Duke as "our husband." And the movie didn't show it, but in reality he went fathered two children on this woman, who all lived in the same house with the Duke and Georgiana. But when Georgiana falls in love and has an affair, the Duke forces her to give up her lover (and the child she's conceived with him) or else she'll never see her children again.

The costuming was beautiful and I enjoyed watching the movie. But mostly I just felt incredibly sad for Georgiana.

I thought Keira did just fine. I don't think she's a bad actress at all. She has an interesting face, though. Sometimes I think she's beautiful, and other times I think she isn't.

Her husband is a massive asshole [snip] I just about choked when he had an affair with Georgiana's best friend and then insisted on keeping the woman in the household. Georgiana wanted her out, but the Duke basically said no, she stays.

I find that very sad, but not for the same reason. I did a bit of reading on Georgiana when I was at uni and know that the Duke was certainly not such an evil asshat. For one thing, it was Georgiana's desire that Bess remain with them. If she had wanted Bess to go, the Duke would certainly have sent Bess away. It's an incredibly unfair portrayal of him._________________"To be in a romance is to be in uncongenial surroundings. To be born into this earth is to be born into uncongenial surroundings, hence to be born into a romance." (G.K. Chesterton)

I thought Keira did just fine. I don't think she's a bad actress at all. She has an interesting face, though. Sometimes I think she's beautiful, and other times I think she isn't.[/quote]

I just watched her in Love Actually, over the weekend. Even though her part is small, she has such a lovely smile when she is on screen. But, I know what you mean...sometimes she is incredibly beautiful and other times her face looks way too thin and her features just overwhelm her.
Too bad about the movie. I probably won't go out of my way to watch it._________________"As you wish"
~The Princess Bride

Her husband is a massive asshole [snip] I just about choked when he had an affair with Georgiana's best friend and then insisted on keeping the woman in the household. Georgiana wanted her out, but the Duke basically said no, she stays.

I find that very sad, but not for the same reason. I did a bit of reading on Georgiana when I was at uni and know that the Duke was certainly not such an evil asshat. For one thing, it was Georgiana's desire that Bess remain with them. If she had wanted Bess to go, the Duke would certainly have sent Bess away. It's an incredibly unfair portrayal of him.

Oh! They definitely didn't portray it that way in the movie. In the movie, Georgiana insisted (at first, when she first discovered the relationship) that she wanted Bess out, and the Duke said no. The movie does show that as time goes on, the two women reconcile themselves to their arrangement and even, it's obvious, have a friendship again and a willing partnership when it comes to "their" husband. (And Bess married the Duke with Georgiana's blessing after Georgiana died.) Bess is portrayed as someone who loves Georgiana and supports her and wants her to be happy. At the very end of the movie, the two women are together outside with all the children, and you can see that they're on the same wavelength and that there's tremendous regard between them.

And it's probably unfair of me to call him an asshole. On the surface, I think that's how he was portrayed. Ralph Fiennes called the Duke "emotionally constipated," and there are times in the movie when the Duke insists that he does love Georgiana, but as he understands love to be, and as he's capable to love. It may not match HER definition, but it's his own. Also, I got the feeling that he was very much a product of his time with regard to the ol' double-standard. So no...I wouldn't say evil at all. I think his actions -- especially seducing his wife's best friend and setting her up in their home -- was asshatterish, but I can also see that he was the sum of his parts. There's a scene at the end, after she gives up Eliza (her baby), when you can see that the Duke DOES care for her.

The movie didn't go very deep, really. There were a lot of sex scenes, and you got some of the bare bones of the story.

Bess is portrayed as someone who loves Georgiana and supports her and wants her to be happy.

Bess was quite the operator--someone who desperately wanted to be Georgiana. Paradoxically, she was also a loyal friend. When Georgiana had to go into exile, Bess could have hung around and tried to assume her place, but instead packed up and followed her out of England.

Niftybergin wrote:

Ralph Fiennes called the Duke "emotionally constipated," and there are times in the movie when the Duke insists that he does love Georgiana, but as he understands love to be, and as he's capable to love. It may not match HER definition, but it's his own. Also, I got the feeling that he was very much a product of his time with regard to the ol' double-standard. So no...I wouldn't say evil at all. I think his actions -- especially seducing his wife's best friend and setting her up in their home -- was asshatterish, but I can also see that he was the sum of his parts. There's a scene at the end, after she gives up Eliza (her baby), when you can see that the Duke DOES care for her.

I remember Amanda Foreman saying in an interview that Fiennes asked her a lot of questions about the Duke. She told Fiennes that the Duke had grown up without any women who loved him or were free to show affection to him, and that coloured the way he treated women for the rest of his life. Upon hearing that, Fiennes' face suddenly changed. Foreman said it was like actually seeing the Duke come to life before her eyes._________________"To be in a romance is to be in uncongenial surroundings. To be born into this earth is to be born into uncongenial surroundings, hence to be born into a romance." (G.K. Chesterton)

I bought the dvd over the weekend, nice costumes and Ralph Fiennes was really a wonderful no-emotions guy. He did a really great job. Kiera Knightly was good, also. I would have preferred Kate Winslet, but oh, well, I'm not the casting agent. And, I have heard all of the denials about how it doesn't reflect Charles and Diana, but it was really hard not to see the similarities, especially the question about "are you in love". "Whatever love is or understands love to be." And, all the similarities in her being a fashion leader.

Can't say enough about the costumes, wonderful wigs.

I did have the book by my side while I watched the movie, keep referring back to it.